The world's economy, with its ever-tightening mesh, has reached such a degree of interdependence and interaction that any vector immediately triggers rebound effects everywhere. Covid-19 is a demonstration of this. The ever-imminent global risk and the systemic ripple effect are the two most virulent emerging properties of the world economy in which we live.
It must be stated clearly: these emerging properties have a strong causal link with human aggression to the environment and social inequality (poverty) of current capitalism, which are the two main causes of the present civilizational malaise, at the same time, a serious problem of environmental justice and social justice.
Furthermore, both environmental aggression and inequality and poverty, due to their magnitude, place us all, citizens of the world, practically face to face and at the mercy of many other even more aggressive mutations of the virus.
We are, therefore, on the threshold of a new civilizational frontier and on the verge of a natural limit that Covid-19 has only revealed in its entirety. Let's look at some of the most relevant features of this civilizational transition.
Firstly, it is very likely that in the coming years we will see a slowdown in the globalization process and a geographic relocation of some sectors and value chains, as the combination of more protectionism, industrial automation and artificial intelligence allow for the recovery of very high production costs. which previously justified their relocation to Southeast Asia.
This slowdown will also include the control and quota on the freedom of movement of economic migrants.
Second, combating climate change and poverty will bring environmental justice closer to social justice. This approximation between the two sides of justice will stimulate the formation of proximity economies and local productive systems (SPL).
The objective is the rational use and management of endogenous resources, in such a way that they create local employment, protect the environment and help the most disadvantaged social groups. The two faces of justice will function as the fundamental barometers of the new proximity economies.
Thirdly, the Covid-19 pandemic has shown the fragility of the way of life of some social groups within large metropolises. These hyper-places therefore run the risk of rapidly becoming non-places carrying a special virus, the virus of “cruel social inequality”.
Let's hope that the digital society and the smart city will force hyper-places to rethink their gigantism, their architecture and their functionalities towards a more polycentric and less vertical city than the current one.
Fourth, the high probability of a serious multi-hazard event warns us that no nation-state will be able to face the consequences of such an event alone. Hence, from now on, nation states will have to organize themselves into communities at risk and into networks of first-line knowledge and attack that will spare us very unpleasant surprises.
Fifthly, Covid-19 showed us the fundamental contribution of digital technologies at critical moments, for example: biometrics, telemedicine, telework, distance learning, online commerce, online public services, collaborative platforms , etc.
Due to the force of circumstances, another contemporary society, another social culture and, almost certainly, another pattern of surveillance and citizenship is progressively taking shape. Let us all hope that it will be a society of moderation, with account, weight and measure.
Sixthly, the Covid-19 pandemic showed us what the labor market of the future will be like: mobility and nomadism, variety of spatiotemporal formats, very diversified formulas of pluriactivity and multi-income, associated with many local platforms that aim to regulate production systems locations and the economies of proximity.
And, in the end, we will also have the “guaranteed basic income” as an innovative complementary element in the framework of instruments of the social market economy.
Seventh, the Covid-19 pandemic has shown how there are sovereign functions that cannot be lightened. This is the case of public health in its various dimensions, especially in support of senior society, but it is also the case of public security in the fight against the violation of privacy and computer crime, which will grow exponentially as the digital transformation proceeds. of societies.
It is also the case of social security benefits and, last but not least, the organization of the judiciary and justice in full digital society.
Eighth, the cohabitation of Covid-19 with the trumppolitics: Proposed referendum on United Kingdom membership of the European Union, the crisis of international institutions and, now, the serious and lasting effects of an economic recession, are causing a real upheaval in world geopolitics.
Social inequality deepens, digital surveillance increases, the encirclement of liberal political democracies is tightened and there is a certain crowd psychology that seems to conform to the populist, authoritarian and decadent spirit of the so-called illiberal political democracies.
Ninth, Covid-19 will force us to reflect on the impact of the major transitions underway – climate, energy, digital, demographic, migratory, socio-labor and now, also, the health emergency and the systemic effects of future epidemics – will have on urban policies, public health, smart cities and spatial planning, in short, on the quality of life of citizens and the collective intelligence of territories.
Finally, in tenth place, in the cities of the XNUMXst century, where most of the world's population will live, everyday life will be truly a great challenge.
This is the reason why the “spirit of the place” leads us to the reinvention of everyday life as an urgent need for public health in big cities.
I am thinking, for example, of the relationship between street arts, architecture and public space, digital technologies and the instrumentalization of urban equipment in terms of electronic surveillance. Being aware is also a matter of public health.
Final Notes: Fulfill both sides of justice
The equation of global risk and multi-risk puts us at the limit of a new cultural and civilizational frontier, here translated by the double face of justice, environmental and social, which remains unfulfilled.
If not, let's see:
– The Paris Agreement is already there, a global organization with reinforced powers to combat climate change, the energy transition, the decarbonisation of the economy and the formation of multi-risk communities, in accordance with the most elementary principles of environmental justice, is essential;
– Here comes the 5G technology, a new legal-political order for the digital economy is essential and additional protection for workers as a result of the profound changes introduced in the labor markets, in accordance with the most elementary principles of social justice;
– We are getting older, longevity is increasing, another social contract is essential, another sociability for interpersonal relationships between younger generations, working generations and older generations, regardless of their living conditions ;
– The ecological and digital transitions open new cleavages in the less developed continents, it is a humanitarian imperative to safeguard the fundamental rights of these citizens, otherwise they will return all their ills to us in a much more aggravated form;
– In the urban design of smart and creative cities, it is essential that they do not become a simple digital machine at the service of a technocratic idea of the city, on the contrary, we want them to be a genuine hyper-place where the genius of place and reinvention intersect. of the world;
– After the pandemic, it is essential that, in all cases, we can safeguard the European project, its more consubstantial political legitimacy, as it is the only actor in the international community that can still play on the various boards that we have just mentioned.
One final note. After the Covid-19 pandemic, the intimate connection between the two sides of justice is fully demonstrated. And this double face of justice - caring for the environment and caring for people - must be necessarily present in the concept and good practices of Smart City, under penalty of being perceived as a stupid city.
So my final warning. An increasingly codified city can clash with the freedom, irreverence and creativity of the human community that inhabits it. I emphasize the contradiction, the tension between banality and the reinvention of everyday life.
It is important not to forget that, in addition to the boredom and monotony of everyday life, there are also the “little nothings” and the micro freedoms of everyday life that ease the pain of melancholy and loneliness. Environmental justice and social justice remind us of this categorical imperative at all times. That is the policy of citizenship to everyday life.
Author António Covas is a Retired Full Professor at the University of Algarve
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